XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.republicans, talk.politics.guns

In question?
It's obvious that the democrats fuck up everything they touch and states
are no exception.

'Blue state bungles put Democrats’ governing competency in question'

<https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jan/16/blue-state-bungles-put-democrats-governing-compete/>

'Democrats nationwide are grappling with a crisis of incompetence as
they face off against voters who feel the party’s leaders have forgotten
how to deliver on the government’s basic jobs.

Raging wildfires in California have made Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los
Angeles Mayor Karen Bass the subjects of derision.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams are
underwater with residents who want just about anyone else to lead them.
In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson is the latest Democrat to leave voters nonplussed with his responses to homelessness, immigration and crime.

Add President Biden’s national hiccups, and it’s a bad moment for Democrats, who have long positioned themselves as champions of the government’s ability to deliver solutions for average Americans.

“Democrats, in many ways, have essentially put the spotlight on
themselves by advocating for higher taxes and a larger government role
in society,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. “So when they fail, in California, Chicago or New York, it
is more noticeable and consequential because Democrats have been making
the case that is the optimal model.”

Democrats are struggling as members try to figure out a path forward and
look for a leader to rally around after surrendering the Senate to
Republicans and the White House to President-elect Donald Trump.

Democrats hold mayoral posts in 18 of the largest U.S. cities, and
Republicans have a slight edge in governorships.

Mr. Johnson is the most unpopular mayor in Chicago’s history. City
voters are questioning his competence after he struggled to deliver on a campaign promise to scrap a gunshot detection system that liberals cast
as racist and left others concerned about crime befuddled.

Chicago Public Schools have been gripped by chaos. Mr. Johnson broke his campaign promise not to seek a property tax hike, and the City Council unanimously rejected the proposal. He also is dogged by concerns over
taxpayer funds spent on illegal immigrants.

“Now, you still feel like you have to harbor these illegals, which is
not a good idea. Can you do the job, Mr. Brandon Johnson? It’s looking
like you cannot do the job,” a resident told him at a council meeting
last month.

Momentum is building behind a bill in the Illinois General Assembly that
would allow the Chicago mayor to be recalled.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Bass faces recall chatter in Los Angeles, and Mr. Adams
is scheduled to stand trial on corruption charges in April in New York.

Chicago has not had a Republican mayor since 1913. Los Angeles has not
had a Republican mayor since 2001, and New York has not had a Republican
mayor since 2007, when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg switched his party affiliation to independent.

Mr. Bloomberg switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican
in 2001 to run for mayor. He returned to the Democratic Party in 2018.

Jeanne Sheehan Zaino, a political scientist at Iona University, said
local leaders are being tested and, in many cases, failing to grasp the fundamental problems their constituents are facing.

“This is a challenge for all public officials, and particularly today,
we see Democratic officials in blue states who are falling short in this area,” she said.

Hank Sheinkopf, a New York-based Democratic strategist, said his party
has to change.

“The last bastion of elitist Democratic Party thinking is in New York
and Los Angeles,” Mr. Sheinkopf said. “New York Democrats are under
attack by the center and Los Angeles County, and that whole portion of
Southern California has the potential to flip into the Republican
column.”

Democrats struggling to lead the nation’s three largest cities is not a
good look.

Republicans say Democrats have let their ideology blind them,
particularly on immigration and crime, where voters have recoiled over
lenient policies in liberal-leaning states and cities.

“It’s about disorder,” Mr. Sheinkopf said. “So the sense that things are
out of control is what destroys Democrats and tends to elect
Republicans.”

He said the problem for Democrats in New York is they tried a liberal
crusader in former Mayor Bill de Blasio to deal with social issues, and
now tried a former police officer in Mr. Adams to deal with crime
concerns.

“Neither has worked,” he said.

In California, the wildfires are destructive enough that Patrick
Soon-Shiong, the owner of The Los Angeles Times, says the paper made a
mistake when it endorsed Ms. Bass in the 2021 mayoral race.

“Maybe the lesson we learned out of this catastrophe in California is to
now vote not based on left or right or D versus R but perhaps based on competent or no experience in operating a job!!” Mr. Soon-Shiong said on social media. “We have to elect based on competence. … Yes competence matters.”

Mishandling disasters draw mockery, but it doesn’t have to be a
political death sentence.

Gov. Gregg Abbott of Texas, a Republican, faced intense scrutiny in 2021
when the state’s power grid collapsed amid severe winter storms and more
than 240 people died.

Sen. Ted Cruz, a fellow Republican, drew particular scorn for jetting
off to Cancun, Mexico, amid the chaos.

Both men have since won reelection in races that weren’t even close.

Mr. Jones said one difference is that Texas voters had someone else to
blame.

“At the end of the day, the villains in Texas were the natural gas and electric companies with a side critique of the Texas GOP not engaging in significant regulation,” Mr. Jones said. “That is different from
managing immigration, providing education, reducing crime levels or
having fire departments and emergency services prepared for a
predictable natural disaster.”

Plus, Mr. Jones said, the whole issue of Democrats championing
government as an answer to problems, even at a higher cost to taxpayers.
When big government doesn’t deliver, it undercuts one of the party’s
core arguments.

“So you have the combination of high taxes but inefficiency and
ineffectual government services,” he said'

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